Cauldron: Burning Fortune

Young Toronto trio Cauldron dedicates itself to metal’s lost early Eighties, when thrash and glam bands hadn't yet gone separate ways, and low-rent burnouts in jean jackets imagined themselves stomping like Hannibal's pachyderms across the Pyrenees. Between over-the-top Flying V solos as pretty as they are speedy, and borderline tongue-in-cheek lyrics shrieked clear enough to highlight every teen-anthemic cliché, this might be metal’s catchiest album in eons. The most prominent topic is girls — "Miss You To Death" is a hilariously mythic, astoundingly melodic breakup song. And the titles of "Queen Of Fire," "Taken By Desire," and the implausible "Frozen In Fire" all rhyme.